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Review 1 of 1
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Tannoy has a range called the Kingdoms, even more expensive than dimensions.. The Kingdom 12 is the most recent addition launched early in Y2K, and although it's no lightweight. it is just about lug gable and looks the more likely prospect for British rooms and budgets.
The 6000 pound/pair price tag is certainly considerable. but not that unreasonable when you consider the sheer quantity and complexity of the ingredients involved. This is a three- and-a-halve-way design, with a monumentally massive DMT (differential materials technology) type enclosure. the whole caboodle registering a backbreaking 75kg. I managed to unbox the beasts, as my stomach muscles continued to remind me for several days thereafter, and from then on it was plain sailing, as these are floorstanders fitted with castors so that they’re easy to move around (purists might note that a more rigid cone alternative is available.) Make your mind up about styling. One man's old-fashioned is another's timeless classic period reproduction. Speaking personally. I rather like them-but then I've always been found of loudspeakers with attitude. The Kingdom 12's size and proportions are an awfully long way from the speakers you’ll normally find in today's market place, and indeed are much more reminiscent of big port-loaded dual concentrics like the York’s and Lancaster’s of the late 1960s. Although the fashion trend since then has led to the progressive narrowing of front panels, there are still sound reasons for using a wide front panel - if only to accommodate decent diameter drive units. Your simply can't put a 12-inch bass driver into a modern 'slim line' enclosure (short of mounting it in the side). and that represents its own compromise. Whatever your think of the bulk and proportions. Tannoy has done its best to make the end result interesting and imposing. With a cunning combination of American Cherry and Black Ash real wood finishes, linked with mat black painted MDF. Under the heavy weight grille, the front panel is a busy affair. with three drive units, a gilt badge, and pre-set bolts for adjusting the relative level of the tweeter and super audio tweeter to taste. Foam bungs perform a simalar function for the two large rearports. One key feature of the enclosure is that it combines birch plywood and MDF to assist resonance control. The heart of this speaker is the 10-inch cast-frame dual concentric driver (incorporating a horn loaded tweeter firing through the middle of the main cone). which operates from the low bass well up into the high treble. The 12-inch bass driver provides supplementary welly and weight at the bottom end of the spectrum, while a 25mm metal dome 'super-tweeter’ augments the high treble above a nominal 16KHZ. Interestingly, both the cone drive units use doped paper cones. terminated by 'old-flash-ionised' pleated fabric surround. Twin terminals provide a biwire amp option. separating the bass driver from the rest, and there's olso an extra earth terminal. Wich can be used to earth the driver chassis to amplifier if desired.
A brief run trough some basic measurements yielded some interesting information. The overall in-room balance looks pretty well judged through themed and treble, though itisn’t particularly smooth. There’s some tendency to exaggerate the upper bass (around 100Hz), while thelow bass is a shade lacking considering the size of the box. (20Hzregistered-8db in room ref the midband). Tannoy’s quoted 90db sensitivity is very conservative- I’d give the K12 a92dB overall rating, but the company’s claim for an 8 ohm impedance seems even further from reality, since the impedance drops below 3ohms around80Hz (where power demands are high), and does so again above10kHz (which might affect amplifier stability margins). The main dual-concentric driver isn’t the problem, but adding the extra bass unit and super tweeter in parallel pushes the margins- this speaker looks an excellent candidate for bi-amplification. Strengths:
Sound Quality
Whatever else one might say about the Kingdom 12s, the sound that they make is enormous fun, very engrossing and involving in the way it drags your into the music, witch it delivers with considerable drama and impact. This is neither a particularly smooth loudspeaker, nor one with unusually low levels of coloration, but rather its excellence lies in the dynamic domain, where it does indeed stand out way ahead of the pack. Drive it as hard as you like, and it just goes loud and louder, and never seems in the slightest danger of loosing it composure.
Play it at whisper-quiet levels in the middle of the night, and it remains totally and very impressively articulate and informative. There are some boxy and cuppy effects in the midband. And I daresay the main enclosure probably accounts for some of the warmth and richness of the sound, but by absolute standards this box behaves itself exceptionally wel, delivering bass of considerable power and agility, and an unusual freedom from ‘waffle’and overhang’. There is a slight lack of ultimate weight, but the wonderful headroom freedom from distortion and accurate dynamic tracking is more than fair recompense. The considerable clarity through the bass region leads to an unusual degree of overall transparency for a box loudspeaker, while the low time-smear, wide dynamic range and excellent low level detail all add up to a very invigorating and communicative listening experience. And that super-tweeter really does work, subtly smoothing out and opening up the top end. There’s lots of headroom here, so the speaker never really sounds strained at normal listening levels, though when attempting to explore its loudness capability on heavy dance material, that wicked low frequency load did upset the Naim NAP500 power amp I was using much sooner than expected. Weaknesses:
Conclusion
The Kingdom 12s might be a bit of a throwback visually, but there also a powerful reminder of some of the sonic virtues that are rarely found these day’s, especially in the dynamic domain. A warm, rich sound with fine communication skills and considerable grip and authority seem more than fair compensation for a measure of coloration, though the severity of the amplifier load cause for some caution.
Review p. messenger
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5 of 5
